• Five entrepreneurs have concluded a bid-rigging agreement concerning the maintenance of the city of Tychy.
• President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny has issued a decision imposing penalties on them in the total amount of almost PLN 1.2 million.
• One of the participants in the agreement avoided sanctions because they took advantage of the leniency programme – they admitted to breaking the law and submitted substantial evidence in the case.

The colluding parties participated in the tender for "Winter maintenance and post-winter cleaning of roads and summer maintenance" in Tychy in the years 2015-2018. The most advantageous and simultaneously the cheapest bid was submitted by a consortium of two companies: "Bio-Ekos" from Nowe Chechło and "Eko Ogród" from Tychy. However, during the tender procedure, the consortium failed to provide all necessary documents, so its bid was rejected for formal reasons and thus the contract was not signed. The investigation conducted by the President of UOKiK revealed that the purpose of this action was to force the contracting authority to select a more expensive bid submitted by: "Master Odpady i Energia" from Tychy, "V&T" from Tarnowskie Góry, and "An-Eko" from Tychy.

"The evidence gathered during searches and other activities as well as from one of the colluding parties leaves no doubt that the entrepreneurs' aim was to force the contracting authority to select the more expensive bid and also to prevent entities that were not a party to the agreement from entering the market.  These practices are completely unacceptable, as they not only hinder the activity of honest entrepreneurs but also expose community budget to losses," says Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK.

According to the investigation, the entrepreneurs agreed to submit two bids in the tender. The first consortium submitted a bid characterised by a low price and gaps in documentation. It amounted to gross PLN 12.7 million. The second proposal was almost PLN 5.5 million higher, nearly gross PLN 18.2 million. After the tender results were announced, when it turned out that the bids of the colluding parties were the two most advantageous ones, the consortium with the cheaper proposal did not supplement the required documents and presented an outdated bank opinion on its resources. Thus, the City of Tychy signed a contract with the consortium composed of: "Master Odpady i Energia", as the leader, "V&T" and "An-Eko".

As an aside, it is worth mentioning that the entrepreneurs also established another consortium ("Master Energia i Odpady", "Bio-Ekos" and "Eko-Ogród"), which, in the absence of competitors in the fight for the contract, was to issue a proposal with a price of approx. PLN 20 million. However, this did not happen because another entity joined the tender procedure; in which case, the colluding parties agreed to submit two bids.

The entrepreneurs wanted to ensure that the consortium with the higher price led by "Master Odpady i Energia" wins the contract, and to prevent entities that were not a party to the agreement from entering the market. "Bio-Ekos" and "Eko-Ogród", which were not in the winning consortium, could count on being involved in the execution of the contract.

Four financial penalties and no sanctions for "Bio-Ekos"

The President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny has imposed financial penalties on four of the colluding parties in the total amount of nearly PLN 1.2 million. The penalties for each entity are as follows:

• Master - Odpady i Energia – PLN 1,048,393
• Eko-Ogród – PLN 132,225
• V&T – 5,941
• An-Eko – PLN 2,224

During the process of investigation, Bio-Ekos filed an application for protection under the leniency programme. The entrepreneur, inter alia, presented substantial, previously unknown evidence, therefore the President of UOKiK waived the penalty imposed on the company.

The decision is not final and may be appealed to the court.

The campaign "Market Collusion? Give us a Signal!" to raise the awareness of competition law violations and encourage company employees to prevent them. Do you suspect that your company is involved in illegal price-fixing, bid-rigging or market-sharing practices? Do you have evidence for that? Notify UOKiK of such violations under the Whistleblower programme.

We are waiting for your questions and notifications. You can contact the Office in many ways: through an anonymous platform, through a specially established hotline, via ePuap, by email or by letter.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL